Welt pressing means for sole attaching machines



Sept. 28, 1948. c. K. WOODMAN WELT PRESSING MEANS FOR SOLE ATTACHING MACHINES Filed June 20, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet l Ina/en tor Charles K Woodman Sept. 28, 1948. c. K. WOODMAN WELT PRESSING MEANS FOR SOLE ATTACHING- MACHINES: Filed June 20, 1947 -2 Sheets-Sheet 2 n a rm 0% mw eK. m 1% h G Patented Sept. 28, 1948 WELT PRESSING MEANS FOR SOLE ATTACHING MA-CHIN ES Charles K. Woodman, Beverly, Mass, assignor to United Shoe'Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J a corporation of New Jersey Application June 20, 1947, Serial No. 756,053

4 Claims. (CI. 12-33) This invention relates to improvements in welt pressing means for sole attaching machines and is illustrated herein as embodied in an apparatus intended particularly for use in cement attaching soles to shoes.

It is an object of the invention to provide improved means for supporting and applying the optimum amount of pressure to the sole extension, including the welt in the case of a welt shoe, of a shoe in which the margin of the sole extends beyond the boundaries of the lasted upper. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention pressure is applied by power uniformly to the welt in a measured amount which is automatically balanced against the pressure applied to the shoe by the sole attaching instrumentalities of the machine, relieving the operator from the necessity of exerting manual eilort or exercising skill in controlling the pressure applied to the welt.

While the illustrated mechanism was developed particularly for use in a sole attaching machine of the type of that disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,047,185, granted July 14, 1936, upon an application filed in the names of Milton H. Ballard et al, it should be understood that the invention is not limited in its utility to embodiment in a machine of that type.

In the accomplishment of the above stated object, I have found it advantageous to provide direct, unyielding, pressure balancing connections of such constant ratio between a movable welt presser and the toe pad which presses the shoe and sole against the press pad in a cement sole attaching machine that the pressure per unit of area exerted upon the welt will be approximately equal to the pressure per unit of area exerted upon the portion of thesole being cement attached to the trimmed inseam materials of the shoe bottom. The result of the use of this apparatus is the automatic production of a uniformly sound cement bond of the welt to the sole and of the sole to the shoe.

With the above and other objects and features in view, one embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a right hand side elevation, partly in section, of the apparatus;

Fig. 2 is an angular view/partly broken away to reveal structural features;

Fig. 3 is an angular view of one of the linkages in the pressure balancing connections; and

Figs. 4 and 5 are side and front elevations, respectively, of details.

The welt pressing means disclosed herein resembles in some respects that disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,138,960, granted December 6, 1938 upon an application filed in the name of Sidney J. Finn, with which, however, the pressure upon the welt is applied by manually operated means and is independent. of the force with which the shoe is pressed down upon the press pad of the sole attaching machine, as distinguished from the uniformly balanced pressure produced automatically by the apparatus of my invention. I

In the drawings, ll), Fig. 1, indicates the press pad of a sole attaching machine and I2 and lll indicate the sole and welt of a shoe l6, pressed down upon the pad Ill by a conventional toe pad is. A welt engaging element 26 surrounding the forepart of the shoe is interposed between the welt and a horseshoe shaped pressure member 22 which is described in detail in United States Letters Patent No, 2,156,281, granted May 2, 1939, upon an application filed in the name of Sidney J. Finn. The element 26 is placed around the shoe, or the shoe is fitted into it, by hand and the pressure member 22 exerts downward pres,- sure upon it, to press the welt i l downward into firm contact with the sole I2. The member 2-2 considered alone, or the assembly of the member 22 and the element 20, may be termed a welt presser; and that term as used hereinafter may be understood to mean either the element 22 or the assembly, as the context may require.

The toe pad 13 and the pressure member 22 are carried by a slide 26 movable lengthwise of the shoe in a guideway formed in a vertically movable arm 28 of the sole-attaching machine. Vertical movement or" the arm 25 is effected by a rocking lever 3b which is power actuated. The

arm 28 and the lever Ell correspond, respectively,

to the vertically movable member 32d and the lever 3H3 in the machine illustrated in the above mentioned Finn patent, No. 2,138,960, and are parts of a conventional cement sole-attaching machine.

The toe pad l8 and the pressure member 22 are suspended from the outer and inner ends, respectively, of balancing levers lit, 52 from which project fulcrum pins 54, 5t journaled in bearings formed in brackets 58, W depending from the slide 26. Downward movement of the slide 26, when the arm 23 descends, thus exerts a downward force upon the levers Ell, 52 and the toe pad and welt presser carried thereby, such downward force being divided automatically between the toe pad and the presser in inverse ratio to the lengths of the lever arms from which they are suspended.

The toe pad I8 is suspended from the levers t, 52 :by means of links 55, 5'! pivoted to the outer ends of the levers at 5!, 53, and to lugs 63 on the top of the toe pad at 59 and El. A vertical post 32 extending upward from the toe pad l3 has a sliding fit in the bore of a guide sleeve 25 which is fixed in, and depends from the slide 2t. A small vent 34 in the upper end of the sleeve perputs the escape of entrapped air.

A coiled expansion spring 355 surrounding the post 32 bears upon the top of the toe pad and against an annular shoulder in a floating ring 38 which surrounds the sleeve is. The welt presser 22 is suspended from this floating ring which, in turn, is suspended from the inner ends of the pressure balancing levers El 52 by links it and 18 having at their lower ends pivot pins G2, l i which are journaled in two bosses All Figs. 2 and 5, extending from opposite sides of the ring 333, the upper ends of the said links being pivoted to the levers B, 52 at 42 and ti l.

Projecting oppositely from the ring 38, at right angles to the aXis of the bosses iii, are bearings 62 in which are journaled co-aXial pins 6 to which is secured by set screws 65 the frame in which the pressure member 22 is mounted.

lhe expansive tendency of the spring 36 tends at all times to advance the toe pad i3 downward relatively to the floating ring iii? and to retract the ring upward and, consequently, to yieldingly keep the toe pad advanced and the welt presser retracted until the toe pad comes into contact with the shoe, whereupon resistance to the fur ther descent of the toe pad becomes efiective, through the pressure balancing levers 5t, 52 to cause the welt presser to descend relatively to the toe pad until the downward pressure applied to the welt of the shoe is balanced against the downward pressure applied to the shoe by the toe pad, this balance of pressure being maintained regardless of the total amount of pressure applied, since the pressure balancing connections between the toe'pad and the Welt presser are direct and un yielding. Inasmuch as the area of the shoe bottom pressed upon the sole by the toe pad is greater than that of the welt, the outer arms of the levers 59,52 are shorter than their inner arms, in order to produce an approximate balance of pressure per unit of area.

The projection of the .toe pad below the lower face of the relatively wide pressure member 22 by the spring .36 is advantageous in avoiding interference between the pressure member 2.2 and the welt engaging element 29 when the pressure applying apparatus is being swung into position over the shoe preparatory to its downward, pressure applying movement.

As a result of the pivotal suspension of the pressure member 22 from the floating ring 38 the pressure member can swing fore and aft with respect to the shoe about the axis or" the pins at in the ring, and can swing transversely with respect to the shoe about the of the pivots iii, M journaled in the bosses ll Thus, the pressure member 22 is capable of universal swinging movement to adjust itself to the position of the top of the welt engaging element 253.

The pressure applying apparatus described above has advantages over those heretofore used in that it relieves the operator of responsibility for the uniform application of the correct amount of pressure to the welt of the shoe, is positive and certain in its operation and is characterized by its simplicity and the small number of parts embodied in its structure, with consequent economy in manufacture.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

In a sole attaching apparatus, a press pad engageable with a shoe sole, a toe pad a welt presser both confronting the press and interconnected for pressure balancing movement relative to he press pad.

2. In a sole attaching apparatus, a press pad engageable with a shoe sole, a movable toe pad and a movable welt presser both cor-1 onting the press pad, and unyielding pressure balancing connections between the toe pad and the welt presser.

3. In a sole attaching apparatus, a press pad engageable with a shoe sole, a toe pad movable toward and from the press pad, a welt presser movable toward and from the press and a pressure balancing lever connected to both the toe pad and the welt presser.

l. In a sole attaching apparatus, a press pad engageable with a shoe sole, a toe and welt presser assembly confronting the press pad, said assembly and the press pad being relatively movable toward other to apply pressure to a sole and shoe, means for yieldingly keeping the toe pad advanced and the welt presser retracted, and connecting means between the toe and the welt presser for advancing the welt 1:. esser when the toe pad yields under pressure.

CHARLES E. WOODMAN.

No references cited. 

